As fossil fuels go, it just might be the most “problematic” of them all.
The $5.25 Per Gallon Canary in the Coal Mine
There may not be a shortage of diesel fuel yet but there is something else that amounts to the same:
Unaffordable diesel.
A gallon currently sells for about $5.25 per gallon on average.
Interestingly, this is about $2 more per gallon than the current cost of a gallon of regular unleaded. The Biden Thing has succeeded in temporarily tamping down the cost of the latter by draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve – but diesel prices have not come down appreciably from their spring/summer high of about $5.70 per gallon.
Diesel cost less than half as much two years ago – just before the Biden Thing was selected president.
If you have a diesel-powered car (such as the excoriated-anathematized VW Jettas, Golfs and Beetles equipped with the TDI engines you can’t buy anymore) with a 15 gallon tank, you’re currently paying about $80 to fill ‘er up.
That’s not very affordable.
But not many people are driving diesel-powered cars – chiefly because the car companies haven’t been selling them for about seven years now, ever since the federal government sicced itself on VW for selling them. In italics to emphasize the true nature of VW’s “crime,” which was not “cheating” on government “emissions” certification tests anymore than Matt Strickland’s restaurant, Gourmeltz, was Hut! Hut! Hutted! the other day for supposedly selling alcoholic beverages without an ABC permit.
Alternatives always present problems for those who do not want others to have alternatives.
And now, they don’t.
Diesel-powered vehicles are problem vehicles – from the point-of-view of those pushing the electrification of vehicles. Not only because they go farther than gas-powered vehicles and much farther than electric vehicles – but particularly because it is possible to keep them going independently of a centrally controlled distribution apparatus.
Gas-powered vehicles require gasoline to keep on going. If there’s none at the pump, it is hard to refine your own. Gas does not store very well for very long, either.
Actually, it used to, but not since FederalGovCo foisted the ethanol-based shite on us all, which worthless crap will reliably convert itself into so much sugary glop in about, oh, an hour and a half or thereabouts.
So even if you thought ahead and stored 50 gallons in a drum for just-in-case, its shelf-life is limited.
Electricity is hard to generate independently in the quantity needed by electric cars. Even on 120v grid power, it takes a day or more to instill a charge in a 400-800 volt electric car battery. If the grid goes down, it will take much longer – unless you have a seriously mighty solar array on your roof or on your backyard.
Diesel, on the other hand, stores almost indefinitely. And many diesel engines can burn bio-diesel, which is “diesel” not made from petroleum. It is made from vegetable oil, animal fats and restaurant grease. In other words, almost anyone can make it.
Themselves.
This presents a dangerous alternative to those pushing “electrification,” which is really more about centralization.
Annnnnd BINGO. In other words, for our Deep State lords and masters, this is really about exactly what it’s always about: Power, and Control.
Update! Ernie drops a most interesting and informative comment.
Eric, you have a bit of a technical error. Natural fuels are refined using fractional distillation, the light stuff comes off first, then some gasoline, then kerosene, then progressively heavier grades of fuel oil, down to bunker fuel and asphalt/tar. In a barrel of crude oil there is inherently a lot more diesel fuel of various types than gasoline. Diesel fuel is inherently far more abundant and used to be far cheaper than gasoline- thus its use in heavy haulers like rigs, trains, and ships.
Also, old school mechanically injected diesels are inherently cleaner than gasoline engines until the 90’s closed loop engine management. As usual, pinheads saw occasional puffs of soot and assumed they had to be dirty, leading to a lot of prejudice against Rudolph Diesel’s “black mistress.”
Man, I’m so old I can remember back in the Olden Thymes of the late 70s/early 80s, when diesel was in fact so much cheaper than regular gasoline that people all over the country were dumping their old rides for diesel cars because of the savings they could realize from making the switch. My, how times have changed.
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“…unless you have a seriously mighty solar array on your roof or on your backyard.”
Actually, it all depends upon how far you wish to drive per day.
I did the calculation for a Tesla Model S some time ago just so when it came up I’d know the true answers.
90Kwh useable battery, range is 535km (332 miles)
168Wh per Km (270wh per mile)
50miles per day = 13.5Kw
13,500 watts / 4 hours* = 3,375 watts per hour
4000 watts / 200 per cell = 20 200 watt solar cells
20 cells at $85 = $1,700.00
15Kw batteries = $4,500.00
Two charge controllers** $1,500.00
Misc $2,000.00
Total $9,700.00
That’s a do it yourself price and those are used solar cells which are fine. I have since found new ones that are close to that price per watt, but larger size, so only around 12 are needed. Take up the same space of course.
The batteries are 3 at 5Kw each and $1500 each. One charge controller is enough but I’d prefer two smaller ones in case one fails. Misc is mainly for mounting and wire. For me that is really about $200 bucks, meaning I could do the job for under $8K
So, while you are driving/gone during the day, the batteries are getting charged and then the power is transferred at night.
*assumes an average of 4 hours prime sunshine. My house faces due south. South or west exposures are the best, south preferred.
**charge controller, inverter, and line switch all in one
Diesel is good stuff, makes gobs of torque but narrow power band. No air fuel regulation required, increase the power by pumping more fuel in until it just can’t burn it all.
The drawback used to be the narrow power band requiring lots of gears. For cars this has been eliminated because better materials science and the computer allows multi-gear automatic transmissions (5-6-7-8 and more). For the big trucks – still shifting gears a lot.
Most of us understand the actual economics of a barrel of crude.
Btw gasoline at the pump usually falls over the winter. If it stays the same that is Inflationary .
Before the biden cabal economic collapse the price of diesel went up due to onerous government mandates. IIRC, it was roughly 20% more than regular grade gasoline for the last 5 years or more.
Gasoline prices may go down, but if they do it will be because of lower demand due to the higher price, in addition to the normal winter decline. Pumping the reserve dry and lower demand accounted for the fall back that occurred pre-election. Election theft being complete as of yesterday, I expect the price to rise again.